New ministry reaching out, helping parishes with evangelization

By Tanya Connor
The Catholic Free Press

Bishop McManus expressed hope for the Church’s outreach Monday (Sept. 18) at the launching of the diocese’s new Communications Ministry for Parish Evangelization.
Aspects of the new ministry were presented to about 75 priests and other parish leaders Monday afternoon at St. Joseph Parish Center in Auburn. The session was repeated that evening at Holy Family of Nazareth Parish in Leominster for about 25 people.
The ministry is a combination of the diocesan Office of Communications, TV Ministry and The Catholic Free Press. The diocesan ministry has partnered with eCatholic, a company that provides easy-to-use websites, and Flocknote, an email, text messaging tool that will help churches “reach their sheep.”  
“This will provide your parish with a beautiful, mobile-friendly website, as well as a smarter way to reach your parishioners via email and text message,” said an invitation from Raymond L. Delisle, director of communications.
Each of the tools will leave parishes and ministries more time to focus on the message, not the technology, speakers noted.
Bishop McManus spoke at St. Joseph’s about a “new beginning as a diocesan community” and an opportunity to reach out, especially to those not receiving the Church’s message.
Mr. Delisle said the new ministry aims to reach the faithful Catholics, the occasional church attendees, lapsed and unchurched (cultural) Catholics, and the community at large.
He noted that The Catholic Free Press, which is mailed to subscribers and dropped off at parishes, is also to be placed at newsstands, which will “let people see it in the marketplace.”
The new outreach could help parishes with things such as adult catechesis and increasing their collections, according to Mr. Delisle. It could help improve attendance at Mass and social activities, better inform Catholics in the community, and give people a stronger sense of parish membership and awareness of the diocese.
Margaret M. Russell, executive editor of The Catholic Free Press, said that with these tools “we can reach out where people are.”
She cited the use of emails, Facebook and Twitter posts and text messages, which can be shared with people who are outside the parish. Through these tools people can be engaged frequently. They also can be asked what they’re interested in and invited to receive information from parish ministries that interest them.
Mrs. Russell said her parish, St. Joseph in Charlton, has used eCatholic for years. Through the website, parishioners can learn about parish events and can find such things as when they are scheduled to lector.
Mr. Delisle spoke of the benefits of a common platform.
“This is an opportunity for every parish to be on the same playing field,” he said. No matter what size a parish is, it will have access to the same tools.
Pastors will be able to receive technological help, they will have control, they will not have to hire people and they will have a variety of web designs to choose from, according to Mr. Delisle.
“Our goal is to stay on top of the technology for you,” Joe Garcia, senior evangelist of eCatholic, told parish leaders. He said eCatholic wants to share the beauty of the faith through technology.
News posted by the Vatican and the diocese will automatically post to the parish websites, he noted. Parishes can drag and drop onto their websites other things offered through the diocese, without redesigning their page.
Luke Tristani, diocesan specialist for eCatholic, said he will be the contact person for parishes and work with parish contact persons, called “champions.”
Matthew Sewell, “happiness engineer” or customer support representative of Flocknote, showed their mascot, Uno, the lost sheep from the Gospel story. He said most clergy cannot reach the majority of their people with current means. Flocknote aims to help them so there will be better church attendance and stewardship, more disciples and “ultimately, more souls in heaven.”
Emails and text messages are the best ways to reach people who may not be in the pews, he said. He said emails are opened 15-80 percent of the time. But texts, he said, are read about 98 percent of the time.
He demonstrated how easy it is to join Flocknote by asking the audience to use their smartphones to text the word “Worcester” to a 5-digit number. Flocknote captured the names and phone numbers of those who did so. Parishes could have parishioners join by asking them to use their mobile phones in church on a sign-up Sunday.
Mr. Delisle said parishes that have not yet signed up can do so by going online to connect.worcesterdiocese.org.
He noted that Father Steven M. LaBaire of St. Stephen Parish in Worcester had a new parish website built over the past few weeks and online in less than two hours after getting a domain name (web address) on Wednesday.
Mr. Delisle explained the finances of the new ministry and said most parishes will pay less than their previous quota for The Catholic Free Press alone. The assessment will cover the newspaper, the website platform, the email tool, content provided by the newspaper staff and TV ministry, and technological services.
Parish representatives who have used eCatholic and/or Flocknote shared their experiences.
“It’s been awesome,” said Kelly Paulina of St. Mary Parish in Shrewsbury, which has had Flocknote for more than two years.
When parishioners went to Israel, they sent daily video messages back, and received others’ prayer intentions, via Flocknote. She said their pastor, Msgr. Michael F. Rose, puts out a monthly blog on Flocknote.
“It’s a great evangelization tool; we’re helping people to better prepare for Sunday Mass by sending the readings ahead of time,” she said .
“I was looking for an attractive church website that didn’t have broken links,” back in 2008, said Denise Thomas of St. Joseph Parish in Charlton. “I stumbled upon St. Patrick’s in Whitinsville.” She discovered their host was eCatholic, and by the end of the day she was signed up.
“What used to take me hours to do” now takes minutes; eCatholic makes it easy, she said.
Father Jonathan J. Slavinskas, pastor of Our Lady of Providence Parish in Worcester, said that within a matter of weeks his parish went from having nothing online to having an active eCatholic website and Flocknote. It has even helped him to better manage his parish hall.
Msgr. Robert K. Johnson told about a family from the suburbs who joined St. Paul Cathedral, where he is rector. The reason? The parish website showed them that St. Paul’s had everything they wanted. The cathedral has been using eCatholic for several years.